WEEKLY CHURCH NEWS NOTES
Pastor Dale Morgan
November 12, 2006.
BY: David Cloud [FBIS]
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*INCOMING LEADER OF ANGLICAN/EPISCOPAL CHURCH SAYS JESUS NOT THE ONLY
WAY OF
SALVATION *
Katharine Jefferts-Schori, who was installed as the first female presiding
bishop of the anglican/Episcopal Church USA on November 4, says Jesus is
not
the only way of salvation and that homosexuals are created that way.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Jefferts-Schori revealed
her unbelief when she said: "If we insist we know the one way to God,
we've put God in a very small box" ("ECUSA's Incoming Leader,"
AgapePress, Nov. 2, 2006). In fact, we don't know anything about God
for certain except that which He has revealed in the Scriptures, and
He has plainly stated that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation.
The female bishop redefines the Scripture's terminology, saying that
salvation is "the healing of all Creation." Thus she has replaced the
gospel of personal salvation from sin with the gospel of the
salvation of the earth. Jefferts-Schori does not believe the Bible
condemns "committed" homosexual relationships and that sexual
orientation is "not a choice" but is "a piece of how one is created."
"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common
salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you
that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once
delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in
unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and
denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jude 3-4).
*SBC PRESIDENT SAYS THERE ARE VARYING LEGITIMATE INTERPRETATIONS OF
TONGUES *
Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has given his
opinion
on the ongoing "private prayer language" debate and not surprisingly
has taken a neutral position. He says: "I do believe that there are
varying interpretations regarding the issue of private prayer
language. And because I do believe there are varying interpretations,
I believe it is okay to believe one way or the other" ("So. Baptist
Prez Enters Debate," AgapePress, Nov. 2, 206). On October 17 the
trustees of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort
Worth, Texas, voted to disallow professors from promoting the
charismatic doctrine of a "private prayer language," but at the same
time the president of the seminary, Paige Patterson, said professors
who practice this privately and do not teach it in the classroom will
not be disciplined or fired, and one of the school's trustees who
openly endorses this practice will remain in his position ("SWBTS
Takes Stance against Pentecostal/charismatic Doctrine," Baptist
Press, Oct 17, 2006). And in late 2005 the SBC Foreign Mission Board
passed a rule forbidding the appointment of missionaries who practice
a "private prayer language," but the head of the Board, Jerry Rankin,
both practices and endorses it, and the current missionaries who
practice it will not be dismissed. I believe it is unconscionable for
a Baptist preacher to take a neutral position on tongues because the
issue is clear in the Bible. Biblical tongues are biblical tongues;
the tongues of Acts are the tongues of 1 Corinthians 14. They were
real languages that a believer could speak supernaturally. And they
were chiefly a sign to the nation Israel that God was going to send
the gospel to every nation and create a new spiritual body composed
of both Jews and Gentiles (1 Cor. 14:20-22, quoted Isaiah 28:11-13).
Each time tongues were spoken in Acts (Acts 2, 8, 10, 19) Jews were
present. As the prophet Isaiah foretold, the Jews rejected the sign
and were judged. Its purpose ceased even before the events recorded
in the book of Acts were completed. The last mention of tongues is in
Acts 19. The sign, having been fulfilled, ceased. When John
Chrysostom wrote in the 4th century about the sign gifts of 1
Corinthians 12-14, he said: "This whole place is very obscure: but
the obscurity is produced by our ignorance of the facts referred to,
and BY THEIR CESSATION, being such as then used to occur but now no
longer take place" ("Homilies on 1 Corinthians," Vol. XII, The Nicene
and Post-Nicene Fathers, Hom. 29:2). There is no "private prayer
language" in the New Testament. It is the recent invention of
Pentecostals and Charismatics who, having realized that they cannot
speak in real tongues that can be interpreted (one of the absolute
biblical requirements), were forced either to renounce their
experience or to create some sort of cockeyed defense for it. There
is not one example of a prayer in the Bible that is uttered in
unintelligible mutterings that "bypass the intellect." Jesus Christ
did not pray that way and neither did the apostles.
*THE VENERATION OF MARY IN THE CHARISMATIC MOVEMENT
*
The veneration of Mary is a prominent theme of the
Charismatic movement. Light of Life, India's most influential
evangelical magazine, reported on the charismatic "renewal" in the
Roman Catholic Church in June 1979. When the "renewed" Catholics were
asked if their views of Mary had changed, they responded as follows:
"Nothing has happened to the great Mother of God. SHE STILL REMAINS
QUEEN OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, RESPECTED, LOVED AND VENERATED. But we
have a deeper understanding of her position in regard to God and to
us." At the massive New Orleans '87 charismatic conference, which I
attended with press credentials, Mary was highly exalted. Many books
were available in the book sales area promoting Medjugorje, Fatima,
and Lourdes and there was no warning to the 40,000 people in
attendance representing 40 denominations that the "visitations" might
be unscriptural demonic delusions. The late David du Plessis, the
most prominent ecumenical Pentecostal of this generation, visited
Medjugorje and accepted the apparitions as genuine, saying, "I was
quite satisfied from what I saw that this is a working of the Holy
Spirit" (New Covenant, October 1984). The book "Is the Virgin Mary
Appearing at Medjugorje?" by Rene Laurentin (The Word Among Us Press,
1984) lists many other Charismatic leaders who accept the Marian
apparitions as genuine.
*THE NEW FACE OF TEXTUAL CRITICISM *
The following is excerpted from an excellent article by Pastor Bradley
Berglund [First Baptist Church, Cannon Falls,
Minnesota,1stbapti...@frontiernet.net] entitled "From Faith to
Apostasy: The Spiritual Journey of a Modern Textual Scholar." It is
an analysis of Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who
Changed the Bible and Why. "I wish to introduce you, the reader, to
one who represents the face of Biblical textual criticism at the
dawning of the twenty-first century. Much has been made of the
backgrounds of the first popular editors of the critical text,
Westcott and Hort. Much less attention was given to the giants of the
latter part of the twentieth century: Aland, Metzger, and Martini.
Metzger's writings on the New Testament text were often used as the
textbook in all types of divinity schools including fundamental
institutions of higher learning. ... He has been a scholar respected
by all groups from liberal to conservative. Bart Ehrman is the newest
generation of Biblical textual scholarship. After gathering his
undergraduate work at respected Evangelical schools (Moody and
Wheaton), Ehrman attended Princeton Theological Seminary and placed
himself under the tutelage of Bruce Metzger. In the acknowledgements
of the current book Ehrman says, "I have dedicated this book to my
mentor and 'Doctor-Father,' Bruce M. Metzger, who taught me the field
and continues to inspire me and my work." One of Metzger's classic
works, The Text of the New Testament, is now being released in its
fourth edition. On the cover of this edition, Bart Ehrman appears as
a co-author. ... I began to realize that Bart Ehrman was arising as
the published voice of modern Biblical scholarship. The marketers at
Amazon.com sent me an email about a book authored by Bart Ehrman
called Misquoting Jesus--The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and
Why. The review of the article praised Ehrman as brilliant man who
had moved from an absolute, literal faith in the Bible to scholarly
doubt. I was later alerted to a broadcast that aired on Comedy
Central in which Ehrman promoted this book [Colbert Report, June 20,
2006]. As the silly sophomoric host feigned to be an arrogant and
stupid fundamentalist, Ehrman twice during the five minute interview
declared that he is now an agnostic when it comes to his faith in
God. How does one who started as a 'fundamentalist' end up as an
agnostic? His book answered the question. ... [After attending Moody
Bible Institute and Wheaton College it] was at Princeton that Ehrman
finally found the path that has led him to his present position. He
wrote a term paper for a course on the Gospel of Mark. In it, he
analyzed the apparent contradiction found in Mark 2:26. [The O.T.
claims Ahimelech, not Abiathar, served in the office of high priest.
Many simple and plausible solutions have been offered by men who have
faith in the accuracy of the Bible, but for the most part they are
rejected by the 'scholars.'] His old thoughts regarding and inspired
and inerrant Scriptures were challenged by the 'facts' presented in
scholarly study. According to his own admission, his conclusion was a
bit convoluted, but he succeeded in providing an answer that defended
the inerrant Scriptures. His professor graded the work and wrote at
the end, 'Maybe Mark just made a mistake.' The solution was so
simple. When Ehrman accepted this premise, 'the floodgates opened.
For if there could be one little, picayune mistake in Mark 2, maybe
there could be mistakes in other places as well.' Upon making this
important theological jump, Ehrman began to rethink his foundation
for the studies of the text. ... He was no longer looking for Holy
Spirit inspired words penned by Paul; he was only looking for Paul's
original words. ... Bart Ehrman has delineated his path of
'enlightenment,' but in the strict, Biblical sense of the word, this
is a tale of apostasy (1 Tim. 4:1)."
*
BEWARE OF THE TEEN CULTURE *
Rock and roll created the "teen culture" in the 1950s. Prior to that,
while
young people had some different interests than adults and while there
has always been some rebellion toward the older generation and a
desire to "do my own thing," which comes from our fallen nature,
there was not such a wide gulf between youth and adults. Prior to the
rock & roll explosion, young people often liked the same movie stars
as their parents and wore the same dress styles and even liked the
same music. Top hits of the 1940s and early 1950s before the
onslaught of rock included "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," 'The Good
Ship Lollypop," "This Land Is Your Land," "Catch a Falling Star,"
"The Chattanooga Shoe Shine Boy," "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,"
"Mr. Sandman," "Sixteen Tons," "Sentimental Me," "The Doggie in the
Window," "The Typewriter," "This Ole House," "Vaya Con Dios (May God
Be With You)," and "High Noon." The vast majority of hits was morally
innocent and was loved by young and old alike. In contrast, by the
late 1950s and 1960s, the top hits were "I Can't Get No
Satisfaction," "The Twist," "A Big Hunk of Love," "Purple Haze,"
"Sympathy for the Devil," "House of the Rising Sun," "Good Lovin,"
"Whole Lotta Love," "Honky Tonk Woman," "Wild Thing," "Devil with a
Blue Dress," "Revolution," and "Gimme Some Loving." The rock & roll
phenomenon created an entirely separate youth culture with its very
own clothes, music, movies, and attitude. Youth became a style. Young
people began to be more influenced by disc jockeys and rock musicians
and fashion designers than by their parents and teachers. For
multitudes of young people, what's cool became the be-all and end-all
of their lives. Their innate selfishness and rebellion was encouraged
and enflamed by the youth culture. The rock & roll youth culture is
bigger and stronger than ever, and wise Christian parents will do
everything in their power to keep their children out of it.
Successful Christian parents today are those that not only separate
their families strictly from the rock & roll culture but are also
close to their children, working with them, serving Christ with them,
playing with them, instructing them, and communicating with them.
CONCLUSION: Friends in Christ, do not be discouraged by any of this.
It is God's will that we know the times (1 Ch. 12:32; Mat. 16:3) and
that we be as wise as serpents and harmless as doves. These things
remind us that the hour is very late, and we need to be ready for the
coming of the Lord. Are you sure that you are born again? Are you
living for Christ day by day? "And that, knowing the time, that now
it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation
nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at
hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put
on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof" (Rom.
13:11-14).
Pastor Dale Morgan
November 19, 2006.
By: David Cloud [FBIS]
The Weekly Church News Notes is designed for use in churches.
*
ANOTHER BIBLE FOR MODERN MAN
*
A group of 52 "biblical specialists" has released a politically correct
German Bible called "The Bible in a More Just Language." It uses
inclusive language to refer to God as "our Mother and Father" and
replaces the title "Lord" with "the Eternal One." It is designed to
remove language that is offensive to homosexuals, feminists, and
other "marginalized" groups. Luise Metzler, who raised 400,000 euros
to finance the project said, "A Bible in the German language has to
be sensitive about racism and ethnic discrimination..." ("German
Bible in Inclusive Language," Ecumenical News International, Nov. 1,
2006). The new "translation" appeared on "Reformation Day" (October
1) and the first run of 20,000 copies quickly sold out. Lutheran
bishop Baerbel Wartenberg-Potter welcomed the new "translation,"
saying, "The Bible is not a museum but a living book."
Wartenberg-Potter is the wife of Philip Potter, the former general
secretary of the World Council of Churches, and in the year 2000
became the third woman elected to the office of bishop in the
Lutheran Church in Germany. It is appropriate that this "Bible" was
produced in Germany, the birthplace of theological modernism. It
illustrates the complete lack of the fear of God on the part of large
numbers of professing Christians today and is a fulfillment of Bible
prophecy. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound
doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
The "Bible in a More Just Language" is not more perverted than The
Message and The Today's English Bible and The New Living Bible and
other "dynamic equivalency" versions used by Southern Baptist
mega-church pastor Rick Warren and other influential evangelical
leaders.
*CORPORATIONS SUPPORTING THE HOMOSEXUAL AGENDA *
According to the 2006 report from the Human Rights
Campaign, a homosexual advocacy organization, 138 major U.S.
corporations earned their top rating of 100 percent and 436 include
sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies. Last month
Wal-Mart was given a position on the board of the National Gay and
Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for its support of homosexual "marriage."
Well did the Lord Jesus Christ say that the end of the age will be
"as it was in the days of Lot" (Luke 17:28).
*
ROCK & ROLLER ELTON JOHN SAYS HE WOULD BAN RELIGION
*
Elton John, the homosexual rock star, says he would
ban religion because of its alleged hatred. In an interview with
Music Monthly Magazine he said: "I think religion has always tried to
turn hatred towards gay people. Religion promotes the hatred and
spite against gays. But there are so many people I know who are gay
and love their religion. From my point of view, I would ban religion
completely. Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people
into really hateful lemmings and it's not really compassionate"
("Elton John: Religion Promotes Hatred," FoxNews.com, Nov. 11, 2006).
This is a very sad and wrong-headed statement. It is also
hypocritical. Elton John would be the first to say that religious
people who judge his "lifestyle" are wrong to judge, but he obviously
believes that he is perfectly free to judge them in the most severe
manner. The true religion of the New Testament does not promote
hatred toward homosexuals. While it condemns their homosexuality, it
teaches that they are the objects of God's love and it offers them
eternal life through the grace of Jesus Christ if they will repent
and believe. It is not hatred to warn of danger, whether physical or
moral, and the Bible plainly says that sinners who refuse to repent
of their sin will be judged. If a bridge is out and someone stands
beside the road and warns drivers to turn around before it is too
late, that is not hatred, and that is exactly what the
Bible-believing Christian is doing in regard to homosexuality. "And
the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men
every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he
hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:30-31).
*
NEW EPISCOPAL HEAD SAYS MISSION IS TO HEAL THE WORLD
*
Katharine Jefferts-Schori, the newly ordained
presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA (a branch of the
Anglican Church), says the job of the "church" is to bring healing to
the world ("Episcopal Head Shifts Focus," Christian Post, Nov. 13,
2006). Speaking at the denomination's Executive Council meeting on
November 12, she said the healing will come through such things as
halting the spread of AIDS, eradicating poverty, achieving universal
education, promoting gender equality, and fighting environmental
problems. She observed that these are the same objectives identified
by the United Nations as Millennium Development Goals. It is no
surprise to see the Episcopal Church adopting the goals of the United
Nations, since it is one in spirit with this pagan one-world
organization. The Episcopal Church, like its mother in Rome, is much
more like the Harlot of Revelation 17 than a New Testament church.
Like Rome, though to a lesser degree, the Anglican Church is drunken
with the blood of the saints, having burned Baptists and other
dissident Christians at the stake during the reign of its founder
King Henry VIII, as well as during the reigns of Edward VI, Elizabeth
I, and King James I, well into the 17th century.
*BIASED REPORTING ON IRAQ *
The Prime Minister of Kurdistan in Iraq likens CCN International to the
radical
Arabic television network Al-Jazeera, saying they "are equally bad in
their coverage of the situation in Iraq" ("Iraqi Leader Disparages US
Media Coverage," CNNNews.com, Nov. 6, 2006). He said: "When I was in
the United States recently and read the negative news in the
Washington Post, New York Times and in the network TV broadcasts, I
even wondered if things had gotten so bad since I had left that I
shouldn't return." I have observed the same thing. We don't have a
television in our home, but I have occasion to view CNN in airports
and elsewhere on my travels, and it spews forth a steady stream of
anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Christian propaganda. It is
important that we understand that the mainstream news media outlets,
both newspaper, radio, and television, are propagandizing an
extremely liberal philosophy.
*TED HAGGARD'S DOWNFALL *
The media, both secular and religious, has been filled for the last
week with stories
of the moral downfall of Ted Haggard, one of America's most prominent
Christian leaders. He was the pastor of the 14,000-member New Life
church in Colorado Springs; the head of the National Association of
Evangelicals; and the founder of the World Prayer Center. A
homosexual named Mike Jones claimed that Haggard was his regular
partner, and though Haggard denied the accusation at first, he
eventually admitted his 'dark side" and was fired from the pastorate.
A letter from Haggard was read to the New Life Church on November 5
in which the founding pastor admitted that he is "guilty of sexual
immorality" and "a deceiver and a liar." He said, "There is a part of
my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against
it all of my adult life." Haggard is a Charismatic, a New
Evangelical, and a radical ecumenist. In October 2005 Haggard said,
"New Life doesn't try to 'convert' Catholics" and "the church would
never discourage its members from becoming Catholic or attending
Catholic Mass" (Berean Call, Jan. 2006). We would like to say that
Haggard's carnal "non-judgmental" philosophy was the cause of his
downfall, but the sad truth of the matter is that immorality is not
something that happens only to doctrinal compromisers. In recent
years fundamental Baptist preachers have also resigned for reasons
such as child molestation, adultery, and drunkenness. Whether or not
Haggard was ever truly born again is something that only the Lord
knows, and there is a good chance that he is not; but the Bible
teaches us that even born again people can sin grievously by yielding
to the old fleshly nature that we inherited from Adam. The apostle
Paul described this internal warfare and taught that the victory is
through walking in the Spirit: "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit,
and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth
against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are
contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that
ye would" (Gal. 5:16-17). By the way, it is puzzling to me that New
Life Church and the National Association of Evangelicals would
dismiss Haggard for his moral disobedience when they completely
ignored his spiritual disobedience. The Bible, on the other hand,
soundly condemns both.
*LIFEWAY'S INSUFFICIENT SURVEY OF CALVINISM*
"Is TULIP Blooming in the SBC" was the title of a
report published on September 18 by LifeWay, the Southern Baptist
Convention's publishing/bookstore arm. LifeWay did a survey of 413
Southern Baptist pastors and found that 10% admit to being "five
point Calvinists," while 4% were not sure, and 1% refused to answer.
Though 85% of those surveyed refused to be labeled "five point
Calvinists," they could be "four pointers" or "three pointers," as
the survey wasn't specific enough in this regard. It appears to me
that the survey was designed to find the least possible percentage of
Calvinists. It would have been better had they asked specific
questions, such as, "Do you believe that God sovereignly elects some
sinners to salvation?" because that is the essence of Calvinism. I
agree with the conclusion of Southern Baptist professors Fisher
Humphreys and Paul Robertson who say: "Did the sovereign God decide
in advance to save particular individuals and to damn others? If we
answer that question Yes, we are Calvinists, whatever we may say of
the other four points of Dort; if we answer it No, we are not
Calvinists, whatever we may say of the other four points" (God So
Loved the World: Traditional Baptists and Calvinism," Insight Press,
2001, p. 95). I have found that many Calvinists are not willing to
give a straight answer to the previous question, wanting to fudge in
regard to the inescapable flipside of "sovereign election," which is
"sovereign reprobation." This is what George Bryson, in his
interesting 2004 book, calls "The Dark Side of Calvinism." Following
is an excerpt: "Despite the fact that many ... prefer to sharply
distinguish between an election that is to salvation and a
reprobation that is to damnation, such distinctions are not
compatible with a consistent Reformed Theology. Many just do not want
to face or admit the dark side of their theological system. ... To
the Calvinist, a denial of sovereign grace is a denial of sovereignty
and grace. ... [At the same time] Calvinists shout about their
doctrine of unconditional election [but only] whisper when talking
about unconditional reprobation, if they speak of it at all. ... To
deny that the primary and ultimate cause of anything is anyone or
anything but God is to deny a fundamental tenet of a consistent
Calvinism. Thus, the distinction between a negative and positive
decree in Calvinism not only does not clear up the matter, it
compounds the confusion. .... 'God passes by,' a favorite phrase used
by the Calvinist, is a cosmetic effort to distance God from
damnation, and is therefore misleading. For the hardening process
that leads to reprobation and ultimately damnation is, according to
Calvinism, the work of God, as is the irresistible grace of God that
leads to salvation for the elect. Moreover, it is God alone who
hardens. ... Calvinists constantly argue that if anyone but God has a
say about anything, especially in matters relating to ultimate
destinies, then God is not sovereign" (p. 58, 61, 76, 77).